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Hope College student’s essay explains what it’s like to be Muslim at a Christian school

Courtesy of Safia Hattab

Hope College is a small, private liberal arts college near Holland, in West Michigan.

It was founded in 1862 in partnership with the Reformed Church in America, so its Christian identity is central.

Safia Hattab, a freshman at Hope studying English and computer science, brings a different perspective to the school of over 3,300 students: she’s Muslim. Hattab turned her experience of being Muslim in West Michigan into an award-winning essay titled “Through the Dome.”

Hattab joined Stateside to discuss why she chose to attend a Christian college in West Michigan, how she's connected with students of different religions at Hope, and how she's embraced to her own faith in this first year of college.

Listen above.

Safia Hattab’s essay “Through the Dome” will publish in the Oakland Arts Review this winter. Hattab won the journal's 2018 Hajja Razia Sharif Sheikh Prize in Nonfiction. The Oakland Arts Review is an international undergraduate literary journal edited and published by Oakland University students.

Support for arts and culture coverage comes in part from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

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